VATICAN CITY JANUARY 27, 2017 (CISA)-Monsignor Fernando Ocariz is the new bishop of the Opus Dei becoming the third successor of Saint Josemaria.
Pope Francis named him on January 23 following his earlier election in the day at the elective congress.
Bishop Fernando Ocariz will replace Bishop Javier Echevarria who died on December 12, 2016 at 84 years.
Ocariz was born in Paris on October 27, 1944, to a Spanish family that exiled in France due to the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s; he is the youngest of the 8 children.
He graduated from the University of Barcelona with a degree in physical science in 1966 and received a licentiate in Theology from Pontifical Lateran University in 1969 and a doctorate in Theology from the University of Navarre in 1971 the year he was ordained as a priest.
He lived in Rome alongside Saint Josemaria the founder of Opus Dei.
The new prelate has been the Vicar General of Opus Dei since 1994 and was named the Auxiliary Vicar of the Prelature.
Ocariz accompanied the previous Prelate, Bishop Javier Echevarria in his pastoral trips to more than 70 countries.
He has two important works on Christology:Hijos de Dios en Cristo and The Mystery of Jesus Christ among other publications.
He is a consulter for the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith since 1986,as well as other departments of the Roman Curia: the congregation of the clergy since 2003 and the Pontifical Council for promoting the New Evangelization since 2011.
He has also been a member of the Pontifical Theological Academy since 1989 and was among the professors who began the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
The 72-year-old will now head the Opus Dei Prelate of the Catholic Church which boasts of about 92,600 members present in 67 countries.
